crated their lives to the elevation of their race
feel that neither individuals nor organizations working toward this
end should be entirely satisfied with their efforts unless some of
their energy, money or brain is used in the name and for the sake of
the children.

The National Association has chosen as its motto: Lifting as We Climb.
In order to live strictly up to this sentiment, its members have
determined to come into the closest possible touch with the masses of
our women, through whom the womanhood of our people is always judged.
It is unfortunate, but it is true, that the dominant race in this
country insists upon gauging the Negro's worth by his most illiterate
and vicious representatives rather than by the more intelligent and
worthy classes. Colored women of education and culture know that they
cannot escape altogether the consequences of the acts of their most
depraved sisters. They see that even if they were wicked enough to
turn a deaf ear to the call of duty, both policy and self-preservation
demand that they go down among the lowly, the illiterate and even the
vicious, to whom they are bound by the ties of race and sex, and put
forth every possible effort to reclaim them. By coming into close
touch with the masses of our women it is possible to correct many of
the evils which militate so seriously against us and inaugurate the
reforms, without which, as a race, we cannot hope to succeed.

Through the clubs we are studying the labor question and are calling
the attention of our women to the alarming rapidity with which the
Negro is losing ground in the world of labor. If this movement to
withhold employment from him continues to grow, the race will soon be
confronted by a condition of things disastrous and serious, indeed. We
are preaching in season and out that it is the duty of every
wage-earning colored woman to become thoroughly proficient in whatever
work she engages, so that she may render the best service of which she
is capable, and thus do her part toward establishing a reputation for
excellent workmanship among colored women.

Our clubs all over the country are being urged to establish schools of
domestic science. It is believed that by founding schools in which
colored girls could be trained to be skilled domestics, we should do
more toward solving the labor question as it affects our women, than
by using any other means it is in our power to employ. We intend to
lay the Negro's side of th